Unspoken Rule
by madamada-chan
Summary: As the newest among the Teiko regulars, there are things Kise still has yet to know. One of them in particular he learns the hard way.


Disclaimer**:** Kuroko no Basuke's original creator is Fujimaki Tadatoshi-sensei. This is just a fan work. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy :)

**Unspoken Rule**

"I wonder what's taking Kurokocchi so long…" Kise unknowingly voiced his thoughts, wincing slightly from a burning pain in his cheek.

Just then, the gym door opened and a group of second-year members came in, chatting animatedly. They greeted everyone in the gym with a casual "Hey" then went back to what they were talking about. Their voices were so loud, Kise easily caught bits and pieces of their conversation.

"Man, I can't believe I only grew 5 centimeters since last time." Said one of the guys, the shortest of the bunch.

"Really? Where?" Asked another guy, earning himself a kick.

"Die!"

The other boys just laughed, making Kise chuckle at their antics.

"See? Isn't it all right like that? What did Akashicchi have to get so mad about." Kise pouted.

"Hi"

Kise jumped at the sudden voice beside him.

"Ku… Kurokocchi. Didn't know you were here already."

Kise clutched his chest, he felt as though his heart jumped out for a second. Even after being on the same team for one year, he still hasn't gotten used to his little teammate's lack of presence. Kise mused perhaps he never will.

"Kise-kun, what happened?" Kuroko asked, looking up at Kise inquisitively like a child.

Kise figured that his bruise must have been so out of the ordinary that it stood out. He worked as a model, after all, so naturally the first thing people always noticed about him was his face. But his teammates were an exception, and that was what he loved about them- they looked beyond his face.

Kuroko in particular was not one to bother about the surface, so for him to notice his black eye means it was probably that obvious.

"Kurokocchi…" Kise began, biting his lower lip. He felt like he was going to cry.

He then recounted to Kuroko what happened earlier that day.

-x-

"12 centimeters!" Kise shot his fist in the air then started waving his check up form about. "Woo-hoo!"

"You're overreacting" Aomine smacked Kise in the head with his own form.

"Why? How much did you grow, Aominecchi?"

"15 cm yo"

Kise felt irritated by Aomine's smug grin. "Che"

"Idiots…" Midorima muttered under his breath, looking at his form which showed he grew 18 centimeters taller.

The next one who came out of the infirmary was Murasakibara, carrying his form in one hand, the other holding a rice cracker he was munching on. Looking at the towering figure, all three of them wordlessly came to a mutual decision not to ask. Murasakibara looked at them curiously for a fleeting moment, but simply shrugged and left. He was never one to pursue things if it didn't involve food.

A couple of minutes later, Akashi emerged from the door as well.

"Ah! Akashicchi!"

Kise blithely hopped towards their captain.

"Idiot! Don't…!"

Before Aomine could finish whatever he was going to say, Kise happily chirped "How much did you grow?"

Midorima slapped his forehead.

"Ryota" Akashi's face was graced with the sweetest smile, and with equally sugar-coated voice, asked "You work as a model right?"

"Eh?"

The next moment, Kise felt a very sharp pain in his cheek that sent him hurtling before he landed not quite so gracefully on the floor.

-x-

"Wasn't that mean, Kurokocchi? You feel sorry for me, right?" Kise whined, nursing his bruised face.

"That looks painful"

Kise felt a tug in his heart seeing Kuroko's worried eyes. Kise mused there were times Kuroko looked like a puppy, and that very moment was one of those. It was only through sheer willpower that he was able to hold himself back from hugging his much smaller teammate and squeezing him tight.

"What about your job?"

"Yeah… They can probably cover it with makeup, but it'll still look weird with one side a bit swollen." Kise sighed. "Oh well. What about you, Kurokocchi? What took you so long to come here?"

"When the student in front of me came out from the infirmary, the school nurse closed the door on me. It took him a while to come back out and when he finally did, he had already changed and was all packed up, ready to go home. He was starting to lock up already when I told him there was one more student. He looked at me for one full minute, and then he yelled. He apologized after he had calmed down and finally ushered me in."

"I… I see" Kise grinned lopsidedly. He completely sympathized with the school nurse, having experienced it himself every single day. "And? How much did you grow, Kurokocchi? Ah, but, Akashicchi's taller than you, right?"

For a moment, Kise thought something flashed within Kuroko's eyes, but it was so fast that he dismissed it, thinking it was probably just his imagination. From the corner of his eye, he saw Midorima and Aomine slowly backing away. He wondered why, before Kuroko took a step closer to him.

"You're right, Kise-kun."

"Eh?"

"It'll look weird with one side swollen. So let's make it even."

And once again, Kise felt a very sharp pain- this time in his _other_ cheek- that sent him hurtling before he landed not quite so gracefully on the floor. That was how he learned about one of the unwritten rules in Teiko's regular string. As for how many more he discovered afterwards, that was something only the Generation of Miracles knew.

…End?


End file.
